“It hurts to be beautiful,” my mother told me as I squirmed the first time she plucked my eyebrows. That’s the beauty mantra I’ve grown up with: anything deemed comfortable automatically makes me suspicious. I don’t believe in “travel clothes” and...
At a dinner with other travel bloggers and long-term travelers in Chiang Mai, someone asked what we all disliked most about home. Complaints flew about the bleak weather, the loud politics, the close-minded attitudes.
I sat silent, instead...
Over the past four months, I’ve been to 14 different beachside destinations*, swam in 10 different bodies of water**, gotten sunburnt twice and napped in countless hammocks.
My Instagram feed is a continuous loop of palm trees, ocean sunsets...
I’m learning that any place Lonely Planet titles a “backpacker heaven” will be my idea of hell. Cheap drinks, crowded dorms, tanned and lithe bodies strolling the streets without a shirt. Backpacker heavens seem to be idyllic spots that have been...
One of my dreams has always been to have a library: a bright and airy room, lined with bookshelves broken up only by a bay window complete with window seat. Bookshelves filled with fiction and French, dictionaries and design.
I’ve realized that...
Latest Posts
Our favorite toddler books November 13, 2024
A guide to San Diego with kids September 17, 2024
Jojo's nursery tour April 29, 2024
It's possible, but is it pleasant? April 9, 2024
Featured Posts
- A guide to San Diego with kids September 17, 2024
A casual guide to San Diego August 5, 2022
The best beaches in Nice July 18, 2012
What I love (and hate) about Australia November 2, 2011
The best hidden gems near Times Square March 23, 2016
Skinny, strong and hot: the Melbourne coffee scene June 6, 2011
Why it's worth visiting Tallinn, Estonia December 4, 2018
Ads
Stay Connected
About Me
Christine Amorose Merrill
C'est Christine is my little slice of the internet to talk travel, lifestyle and twenty- and thirty-something struggles. After stints living in France, Australia and NYC and lots of (often solo!) travel around the world, I currently live in San Diego with my husband, daughter and two pugs.